Archive facilities for the recording of documents, cards and similar material



June 5, 1962 A. P. SALLINEN 3,037,332

. ARCH FACILITIES FOR T RECORDING 0F DOC NTS, as s LAR MATERIAL F1 Ap' 6,1

FIE.1 F152 INV EN TOR. AIvrn Bun nu SHLLINEA/ A TToRA/EY United Sttes This invention concerns archive facilities for the recording of documents and cards which often have to be taken out from the archive and put back again.

According to the invention the documents in each case will be deposited, for instance, into a record envelope, not to be sealed, and provided with a number. The envelopes are placed in numerical order into boxes with a sign on one end showing the numbers to be found in each box respectively. These depository envelopes could be placed into each box in numbers 100-500 depending on how much paper is put into the envelopes.

If the amount of papers of the kind just mentioned is so large, for instance, that the wall space of the record rooms is utilized from floor to ceiling, then these boxes could be placed into cylinders rotating around their axes, or by means of some other mechanism. These cylinders could be compared with the cartridge roller of a revolver.v The boxes containing documents and cards would thus correspond to the revolver cartridges due to their position.

The object when bringing envelopes back and forth to the records room is to overcome the need of step ladders in order to put the box located high up back to its proper place, and also to eliminate the necessity of crouching down to an inconvenient and tiring position when the box is located close to the floor, by making use of cylinders which on rotating clockwise, or counter-clockwise, locate the box needed at each instant at the height desired.

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a document storage device according to this invention.

FIGURE 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken through the device of FIGURE 1 substantially in the plane of the axes of rotation of the cylindrical containers thereof.

In order to utilize the wall space effectively the cylinders could be placed into three rows, for instance, one on top of the other. The points at which the box in the cylinder has the correct position is chosen so that the boxes in their correct position in the cylinders of the top row are located at the lower edge of the cylinders, in the intermediate cylinders at the middle, right or left of the cylinder shafts, and in the bottom row at the upper edge of the cylinders. Thus, the box desired will always cate at a fairly suitable height.

In addition to attaching to the wall, or sinking into the wall, the cylinders could be mounted on racks to be placed in rows in the records room. Then the cylinders could be made to contain boxes at both ends, the passages between the cylinder rows making it possible to reach both ends of the cylinders.

As already was mentioned in the first paragraph the ends of the cylinders and the boxes could be furnished with a replaceable table indicating the kind of documents and the numbers. Sufilcient space on the table at the end of the box could be provided, so that a person looking for a record envelope may, if considered necessary, note down on the table the number of the record envelope in use and her signature. Furthermore, the boxes could be provided on either top or bottom with a sliding board, or similar, for use as a temporary desk for making atent ice minor entries into said records without the need of every time carrying them out to the office.

In case of small boxes containing cards, for instance, the boxes could be fixed to a belt, which on pulling transports boxes up and down between the floor and the ceiling. This method could be named, for instance, the elevator system. Then the belt could be endless going around two rollers, wheels, or similar, the shafts of which wheels are parallel, one wheel being located above the other.

Even large boxes could be moved in this manner if sufficiently strong transport belts would be used.

A few schematically presented modes of performances are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 presents cylinders 3 according to the invention seen from before. The lower edge on the front wall 1 of the boxes in the cylinders could be provided with a border 2., for instance, by means of which the box could be drawn out. As will be seen from the position of these borders, the boxes are located in their correct positions on the lower edge of the upper cylinder, on the upper edge of the lower cylinder, and of the right edge of the intermediate cylinder. Designation 4 shows the cylinder shafts around which the cylinders revolve, and designation 5 the frame around the cylinders.

FIG. 2 presents the same as FIG. 1, but seen from the side.

What is claimed is:

1. A filling device for documents, cards, and corresponding materials which are to be taken out and checked, comprising an upstanding support, a plurality of cylindrical containers disposed adjacent to each other and one above the other with their axes horizontal and in vertical alignment, journal means rotatably supporting said containers on said support for rotation around their axes, each container being provided with a plurality of drawers slidably engaged in the container and located only near the periphery thereof, the drawers having their front walls normally located in the plane of the front end of the container, the front ends of the drawers being provided at their lower edges with borders by means f which the drawers can be drawn out of the container, the drawers in the uppermost container being disposed so that the borders thereof are outermost and so that the lowermost drawer will have its open side facing upwardly, the drawers in the loweromst container being disposed so that the borders thereof are innermost and so that the uppermost drawer will have its open side facing upwardly.

2. A filing device for documents, cards, and corresponding materials which are to be taken out and checked, comprising an upstanding support, a plurality of cylindrical containers disposed adjacent to each other and one above the other with their axes horizontal and in vertical alignment, journal means rotatably supporting said containers on said support for rotation around their axes, each container being provided with a plurality of drawers slidably engaged in the container and located only near the periphery thereof, the drawers having end walls normally located in the plane of an end of the container, said end walls of the drawers being provided at their lower edges with borders by means of which the drawers can be drawn out of the container, the drawers in the uppermost container being disposed so that the borders thereof are outermost and so that the lowermost drawer will have its open side facing upwardly, the drawers in the lowermost container being disposed so that the borders thereof are innermost and so that the uppermost drawer will have its open side facing upwardly.

3. The structure of claim 2, and wherein at least one additional cylindrical container is provided intermediate the uppermost .and lowermost containers, said additional container being provided with drawers only near the periphery thereof and disposed so that a drawer at one side of said additional container will have its open side facing upwardly and its 'border lowermost.

80,893 Aie Aug. 11, 1868 10 4 Wight Aug. 18, 1885 McMartin June 21, 1887 Lonquist Feb. 23, 1904 Hopkins Aug. 1, 1905 Howard Mar. 14, 1916 Pasznicki Nov. 26, 1918 Cooper Feb. 3, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain 191'1 

